Coffee and Hazelnut Shortbread
Photography Claire Aldous.
Transform the humble but delicious shortbread by flavoring with the warmth of aniseed and coffee and the rich nuttiness of hazelnuts.
INGREDIENTS
125 grams butter at room temperature
½ cup icing sugar
2 teaspoons finely ground espresso coffee
½ teaspoon whole aniseed, toasted and ground*
½ cup finely ground hazelnuts
⅔ cup plain flour
pinch salt
Filling
100 grams butter at room temperature
¼ cup Nutella
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon finely ground espresso coffee
1 ½ cups icing sugar
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 160°C.
Beat the butter, icing sugar, coffee and aniseed until pale and creamy. Add the combined ground hazelnuts, flour and salt and beat to combine. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large fluted nozzle. Pipe 30 biscuits about 6cm long on a lined baking tray, leaving a 2cm space between each one.
Bake for about 12-15 minutes until the biscuits are lightly golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Filling: Beat the butter, Nutella, cocoa and coffee until creamy and glossy. Beat in the icing sugar. Transfer to a piping bag with a fluted nozzle. Pipe a line of filling on half the biscuits then sandwich with the remaining biscuits. Dust with icing sugar to serve. Makes 15 double biscuits.
*Pantry note: Aniseed is not the same as star anise. Aniseed is the spice used to make the French drink Pastis and is widely used in Europe to flavour breads and cakes. Star anise is a small star-shaped spice with 5-6 points each containing a seed. It is used in Chinese 5-spice and many Asian recipes.
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In Dream Escape, we journey from Japan and Morocco to Italy, India and beyond, sharing recipes inspired by travel, heritage and comfort. We celebrate the champions of the Outstanding Food Producer Awards, explore the stories and recipes of chefs shaped by their cultural roots, and warm up with everything from West African soups and slow-braised lamb to porchetta, butter chicken and beef noodle soup. Alongside destination menus, Scandinavian sweets and cosy pub classics, Chrisanne Terblanche shares her favourite street-side dining spots in Bangkok, while Yvonne Lorkin explores red wine varietals. This issue, we invite you to slow down, turn the pages and escape through food.